.45 blazer casing reloading dilemma....i think

[mlancaster]

hey all, picked up a bunch of .45 acp brass for reloading and it is blazer....from what i now notice. the blazer casings have a small primer instead of a large primer....if i use a small primer will it affect my powder charge and velocity? Will it still be safe to shoot...im loading rainier 230grn plated with unique powder...all my load data i see in my speer book only gives info w/ a large primer....do any of you know what i should do....i could load the rounds w/ small primers but don't wanna end up wasting components....does the large primer have more fire than a small primer????should use a small pistol magnum primer if they are made???


Im a noob to reloading....dont wanna loose any eyes or fingers

[iareConfusE]

You can reload them with the small pistol primers, you just need to find some load data for it. You'll likely need to increase the powder charge. How much? That's up to you to research, and possibly even experiment if you can't find any answers online. IF you are going to experiment, start LOW.

[supersonic]

Excuse me if I am missing something, but aren't Blazer cases non-reloadable? They are aluminum & because of their low price, they are "one-time" shots or "throw aways."

[chim-chim7]

Blazer makes brass cases as well.

[pdq_wizzard]

did Blazer switch to SPP? I have bunch and it's all large (it is old) but make sure they are not GAP 45.

[supersonic]

But they are not called Blazer, IIAC. I think those are "CCI Gold" or something like that. "Blazer" always meant the disposable, Berdan-primed, aluminum/teflon cases, I thought.

[bumpo628]

But they are not called Blazer, IIAC. I think those are "CCI Gold" or something like that. "Blazer" always meant the disposable, Berdan-primed, aluminum/teflon cases, I thought.

They are sold as "Blazer Brass"


I have a lot of 45 Blazer Brass casings and they are all large pistol primer. I haven't bought any recently, so I didn't know that they switched to SPP.

[Chief-7700]

The small pistol primed .45ACP brass has been around for a while now. When I find them they go into the scrap/junk brass box. Nothing stops a Dillon XL-650 set up for large pistol primers like one of those evil small primed .45ACP.

Speer, Winchester, CCI all make them.

[bumpo628]

hey all, picked up a bunch of .45 acp brass for reloading and it is blazer....from what i now notice. the blazer casings have a small primer instead of a large primer....if i use a small primer will it affect my powder charge and velocity? Will it still be safe to shoot...im loading rainier 230grn plated with unique powder...all my load data i see in my speer book only gives info w/ a large primer....do any of you know what i should do....i could load the rounds w/ small primers but don't wanna end up wasting components....does the large primer have more fire than a small primer????should use a small pistol magnum primer if they are made???


Im a noob to reloading....dont wanna loose any eyes or fingers

As to your question, I would try loading them without changing your recipe and using a SPP. Just load 10 that way and see what it does to your accuracy. I'm sure they'll all go bang downrange.

EDIT: Whenever you test changes to reloading components, make sure that it is safe before continuing (verify that the bullet left the barrel).

You will also want to mark these cases to easily identify them later. A sharpie marker will help you separate them when you get back from the range, but it won't survive the tumbler. You could try rubbing a china marker into the headstamp. That might stay in there permanently. I would do both.

I've only picked up a few NT shells before so I don't know if you need to up the powder or not. I just drilled out the pockets and reamed them for LPP so I wouldn't have to toss them or keep them separate.

[iareConfusE]

All of the SPP .45ACP shells I find go into the recycle bin. Id rather not have to deal with swapping out priming arms and stuff like that, and having to change my entire powder charge just to load up a couple small primed cases. Federal and Blazer shells can be found with small pistol primers. I weed out the SPP'ed ones when I'm cleaning out the primer pockets with my tool. If the tool don't fit, the shell goes into the bin.

[bumpo628]

I did a little checking on the tubes and it looks like the general consensus is that either it won't make any difference or the round will go slightly slower. Not a lot of evidence either way, but most people just load them the same as LPP.

If I had a progressive, I could understand tossing the shells. However, if you single stage or hand prime it is not a big deal.

FYI, some SPP 45 cases are marked with "NT".
NT = Non Toxic (indoor range safe)

This seems to be a growing trend, so you can't keep tossing them forever...

[kmca]

I save them until I get 500 or so, then load them for "lost brass" matches.

[supersonic]

They are sold as "Blazer Brass"


I have a lot of 45 Blazer Brass casings and they are all large pistol primer. I haven't bought any recently, so I didn't know that they switched to SPP.

That's right, "Blazer BRASS" specifically. My bad.

[davegar1]

Toss them. I tried to reload a batch and some primers fit nice and snug but others were kind of loose. Measured primers pockets after reloading about a dozen and noticing different resistance with hand primer and indeed discovered they were very irregular. This was a while back. Maybe I got bad batch. But not worth the effort.

[diginit]

I've reloaded a lot of these 4 or 5 times. Use a powder that fills up most of the case like Unique. Win 231 only fills half and leaves alot of airspace which can cause a dud or hangfire if fired with the barrel pointing down. Unique is cleaner also. The primer doesn't really have alot to do with velosity because the 45 ACP is a low pressure round. Magnum primers are not necessary. You can use them if you like. But the powder will ignite just fine with a SP primer. Work up a load using standard load data.
If you make a change,(bullets, powder, or primer.) Work up another load.